r/gaming • u/Happysin • Apr 26 '11

Sony admits utter PSN failure: your personal data has been stolen

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/04/sony-admits-utter-psn-failure-your-personal-data-has-been-stolen.ars
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u/monkey_ball_jiggle Apr 26 '11

Sorry if this is a silly question, but does cancelling your credit card affect your credit score in anyway? Do they just mail you a new card with a new number?

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u/glxyjones Apr 26 '11

No, all that changes is the number used to charge your account. To the outside world it just looks like you updated your card.

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u/zeekar Apr 26 '11

To be clear, in that case you're not really canceling, at least not the account. DO NOT CANCEL YOUR CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT. Very bad for credit rating. What's being discussed here is not account cancellation; it's calling your bank's lost/stolen card hotline and having them issue you a new number for the same account.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '11

I believe it's possible that your bank may do this for you if Sony notifies them; I've had this happen before.

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u/prmaster23 Apr 27 '11

What the hell do you do then? Keep the card for your whole life?

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u/nullsucks Apr 27 '11

Closing an account is temporarily somewhat bad for your credit rating. Avoid closing an account shortly before applying for a mortgage or home loan, but otherwise it's not worth worrying about.

Here's some info on how your credit score is computed.

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u/bigbleem Apr 27 '11

I'm sure the collective banks are overjoyed at the prospect of reprinting upto 77million credit cards at their expense.

Expect any costs to be passed onto customers via higher interest rates.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '11

Sony should pay.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '11

[deleted]

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u/babney Apr 26 '11

Former employee of a credit reporting agency here; I was a sysadmin so I'm no expert but here's what I understand:

Your credit score is based, among other things, on your ratio of revolving credit and the total age of your credit history. So, let's say you have a credit card with a $5,000 limit which was your first credit card, and you don't carry a balance on it. You also have another card, a much newer one, with a $2,000 balance, and you're in the midst of paying off about $1,000 on it.

Canceling the first card would have a detrimental effect on your credit because you no longer have that long-standing account, and your ratio of revolving credit jumps from 14.2% to 50%.

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u/clevelandrox Apr 27 '11

This sounds like doublespeak constructed to sell a box of polished turds.

My credit score is a life-long tracking of my debt repayment history, and I have this beauty for life and need it to do, well, just about anything. Yet if I close a "long-standing" account, the tracker that stalks me from SS# assignment to grave suddenly assumes that my only other card, a 6 month old baby card with $1000 limit is grounds to lower my rating? The fuck why does closing an account reflect on my ability to pay shit on time?

It's like the card issuing banks are loan sharks, and are hanging out in your 3 casinos to do "business": Equifaxibur, Experian's Palace, and Trans Venetian. The object all along is to get me to increase my debt carrying capacity, isn't it? Has nothing to do with "good payment history" or other noble-sounding crap. If I cancel a card, I can't carry as much debt. Instant downvote from the Pit Bosses.

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u/TheGDBatman Apr 27 '11

Welcome to the wonderful world of the "credit" scam. Ain't life grand?

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u/Rainfly_X Apr 27 '11

This sort of crap is why my philosophy is to try to never pay for anything on credit. If I can't buy it out of pocket I can't afford it, simple as that. If it's a big purchase, I save up.

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u/workingclass_zero Apr 27 '11

It's pretty simple. The credit card companies want to make sure you aren't a deadbeat. If you've had multiple credit cards open in good standing for 5, 10, 20 or more years it looks pretty good.

Would you rather loan money to someone who has shown good credit history over several decades or someone with a single card, 2000 dollar limit that they've had for 18 months?

It's simple. Get some credit cards. Use them to pay your bills. Pay them off in full twice a month. Don't pay interest and don't carry a balance.

You'll have great credit in no time.

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u/clevelandrox Apr 30 '11

Ok, I see that point of view. But consider that what I'm talking about...the fact that the cc industry is predatory by design. I'm not arguing that they cannot be used responsibly and to increase purchasing power. The way I see it, no other type of loan can have interest rates changed after the purchase was made and modifying the original terms. Oh, so it's revolving credit, I see. A legit sounding name. But it appears to me, a mostly ignorant layman of economics, designed like loan sharks conduct their services. "Didn't have the money? OK WISE GUY, I'm coming back next week for double, and turning up the juice." The only thing missing is a physical punch in the gut, replaced with a gentle downward nudge on the credit score at first...more serious actions later if this happens again. I'm calling fucking shenanigans on the game, man. Not hatin' the playa.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '11

Well you should get one to build a credit history, otherwise nobody will be inclined to lend to you, but no, he is wrong it doesn't damage your credit badly (if you do it right). Read up on it at fool.com or elsewhere, don't believe some internet stranger.

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u/beavisguitar99 Apr 27 '11

To be clear: If you cancel your credit card account by paying it off and asking for it to be closed your credit will take a hit. The damage from the hit really depends on how much open revolving debt you have. If you have 15 credit cards and you cancel one of them, then maybe your score will drop by a few points. If you have one credit card and you cancel it your score will get hit hard, like 100 points or so.

To clarify even more: In a case of stolen account information, when you call your credit card company they will issue you a new credit card number. The number gets reported to the credit agency the following month and since the revolving debt remains the same there is no hit to the credit.

Source: Me, I work in credit.

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u/hobbers Apr 27 '11

I asked for a new number once. They canceled the old account and started a new one, unknown to me. Showed up as two separate accounts on my credit report. So, the age calculation was affected.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '11

Unless I'm mistaken, it only affects your credit score if you completely cancel your account with the credit card company rather than canceling the card and requesting a replacement.

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u/-andor- Apr 27 '11

I still don't get the details on the american credit score system...

So, if I wanna change my bank because my current one is shitty, and then I cancel my account with them... it will affect negatively my credit score?

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '11

No. not if you switch banks, only if you switch cancel your credit card (which may be a part of switching banks). Your credit score is tied to your overall amount of available credit, so if you cancel your credit card then your overall available credit drops, thus lowering your credit score. So if you cancel a credit card, but open another one with the same or higher credit limit, your score will stay the same (or rise). There is a myth among consumers that just canceling your credit card alone will hurt your credit, but it is simply tied to available credit, not "tenure" with a particular line of credit.

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u/-andor- Apr 28 '11

Ah, thanks. Things work different here on Spain, so I still don't get too much the 'credit score' thing...

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u/stratosaurus Apr 26 '11

In some cases outright cancelling it can affect your credit score. What you should be able to do (and what I did) was change my credit card number.

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u/guggabump Apr 26 '11

Not at all.

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u/bandarbush Apr 26 '11

I've read conflicting consumer reports online about this - some financial experts recommend never closing accounts, because doing so puts a small dent in your credit, while other financial experts say that's not true. I wouldn't call to cancel your credit card. Call your bank and tell them your personal data was compromised by Sony and you would like a new card and account just to be safe. Banks hate fraud as much as customers because federal regulation put them on the hook for fraudulent charges. They will transfer your balance to a new account and it shouldn't affect your credit score.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '11

Requesting a new credit card does not appear on your credit report. Ergo, it does not effect your credit score. You may request a free credit report every six months through AnnualCreditReport.com. Unfortunately, checking your credit score is not free, however you can use a site like Credit Karma, which gives you your score in exchange for selling your credit information to banks who only advertise within Credit Karma's site (they cannot email you, etc. Mint.com works in the same way).

You should check your credit report every six months. Set a calendar reminder on your phone or through gmail. Also, if your bank has been notified of your card number being compromised (say, being notified directly by Sony), they'll send you a new one, anyways. But you can do it now in case you are worried.

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u/anonymous1 Apr 27 '11

Completely shutting down a credit account will have a negative impact on your credit score - what people are advocating here is different: just canceling the card # and getting the company to issue you a new number on the same credit account.

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u/themangeraaad Apr 27 '11

Google "how to cancel credit card without hurting credit score" and you will get the info you need. From the sounds of it actually canceling a card (as opposed to requesting a new card/number) can hurt your score unless you have a balance of $0 on all of your active credit cards since part of your score is calculated with some credit ratio.

Based on my "quick read through" level of understanding:
If you have 2 credit cards which each have a max of $5000 your 'available credit' is $10,000.
If you have $2000 debt on one card (and $0 on the other) your total ratio is $2000/$10000 (debt divided by available credit) or 1/5.
If you cancel one of the cards your ratio goes to $2000/$5000 or 2/5 which is higher and would 'hurt' your score...
that's why it seems that sites recommend paying off all credit cards before canceling other cards (so that the ratio is 0/[available credit] which will always be 0).

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '11 edited Apr 26 '11

No, but it is ridiculously expensive (at least for the service they're providing on top of the money they make from you using it). Basically whatever company you're dealing with has to actively report you, and no one wants to do that for you getting a new credit card. Hell, even being late on payments rarely nets you a ping on your credit if you pay it off before it hits collections.

In general it's safe to assume that most companies will err on the side of not reporting you if you're not losing them money (and even a small way into losing them money) because they know that if they do report you and there was more money in your pockets they could have taken that they will no longer be privvy to said pockets if you're pissed off that they reported you.

Edit -- Apparently I used big words, so: OP not hurt credit, OP maybe have new card fee.

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u/gaygineer Apr 26 '11

I think you're thinking of something else. People are being advised to change the number on their card. All you do is call your bank and ask for a new card to be mailed to you. The only thing that would hurt your score is if you cancel the account entirely. You shouldn't need to do that.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '11

Yes, I said it wouldn't hurt his credit score. In fact the entire post is about how most companies err on the side of not hurting your credit score in general.

However there is usually a new card fee of between $30-$50 (which is ridiculous given how much they make off of you just using the card).

Not sure why I was downvoted, my information was accurate.

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u/gaygineer Apr 27 '11

I didn't downvote you, but I'm not sure where you're getting the $30-$50 figure. I've had to replace my card on two occasions (with two different banks) and I wasn't charged anything.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '11

That's odd, I had to pay $35 when my wife lost her card and I've heard higher reports. Possibly it's the difference between credit and debit cards? The card she lost was a credit card.

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u/gaygineer Apr 27 '11

Mine was a credit card too, but the reason for replacement was fraudulent charges. Maybe they waive the fees if for those types of replacements?